


Eyes Are a Cage That Keep You Afraid

by Active_Imagination



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 06:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10916319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Active_Imagination/pseuds/Active_Imagination
Summary: Will Graham's POV through the show, as thought gives way to feelings.





	Eyes Are a Cage That Keep You Afraid

**Author's Note:**

> Submitted as part of the Radiance Fanthology but it wasn't accepted, so I'm posting here instead. Validate me, or give me concrit. Everything is a process.

You are always afraid. You can't remember a time you weren't. A time before you were aware of the monstrous potential of humankind, perhaps. A blissful ignorance, that sometimes you see in the eyes of others. It's one of the better things to see in the eyes of others. 

They say eyes are the gateway to the soul, but that's not really true. The eyes can portray a lot, but a person's soul oozes out of their every pore, their every word, their every action; you can see it all. You can see the shape of someone's soul, if you bring yourself to look. 

You hate this. You hate not having control over what you think, over what you feel. You could avert your gaze. You have the right to look away, but that doesn't make it go away. That's your life, constantly aware of the lives of others. 

There's good and bad in everybody: everybody has the ability to be inhumane. Only a few people let that savagery loose, causing such destruction and pain that it causes the blood to boil, creating visceral reactions in good and bad alike. The good want to stop it. The bad want to indulge in that destruction, recreate it, or even surpass it with their own designs. 

You can see the designs of the monstrous. You can get inside their head. You can understand their reason behind the most heinous actions, and once you understand why they have done what they have done, you can predict what they will do next. You can picture the worst case scenario, and then rely on others to stop it from coming true. 

Relying on others is not an easy thing to do, but nobody can, or rather should, tackle monsters alone. You have every monster you've ever seen still living inside your head, filed away for reference. When those in charge say they have a psychiatrist who can help you, it's hard to believe, but there's a part of you that almost hopes it will be true.

It doesn't appear to be the case at first. Nothing extraordinary. You don't find him that interesting, and that interests him. He's hard to read at first glance, so you find yourself looking into his eyes, and find an almost shy smile in return, a look of recognition, of hope. 

It's a dance, between you and he. You both have walls you have built up, and you both know how to tear those walls down. You both know and that knowledge combined could drown you both, and it might have, if it wasn't for the fire. 

He sees the fire in your brain, but he doesn't put it out. Instead, he keeps you in the dark, more heat than light. You see only in flashes, your own brain tricking you, but aided by the master manipulator inside your head. He could have helped. He could have killed you. He's killed so many others, and through the blood you finally see. 

Somehow.

You survive. 

You claw back control and come back stronger. 

You know more now, but it's not knowledge that gives you life, it's emotion. 

He had the power, but only when your brain was burning. You've taken back your mind. You see his crimes. You keep your distance, because when the distance is closed... you forgive him. 

He's killed for you. He's killed to hurt you, he's killed to call you. He's killed because he's a killer. He's an artist. He's perfection. He is God. He is the Devil. 

He has to be stopped, and you're the only one who can get close to him. 

What will you do when you get that close? You don't know. You can't imagine. You only anticipate relief. 

The relief of trepanation, and as he sawed into your skull, you smiled. 

Your life is his to take. His for eternity. 

A process interrupted. 

You could have died together.

You survive. 

He is locked away.

He can do no harm locked inside a cell, guarded by a woman who once cared for him. She was hurt by him. She knows what he is capable of. She is careful. She is smart. She is beautiful. You loved her once. That was a lifetime ago. 

Now you're free to walk away, to try to forget, free to live a life without monsters. 

It's a life that is still full of love. Love that comes with dog hair and a warm dry bed, not blood and a body count. It's as close to Paradise you deserve, with a wife that only wants the best for you. You can see her soul, and it makes you smile. If only it could last.

The monsters are still out there, even though you've stopped looking. You regret not saying no when asked to look again. No was not an acceptable answer. She gives you the strength to say yes, but you can't bring her into the darkness with you. 

Every meeting, he hooks into you like Velcro. Separation is painful. You had forgotten. 

Together, you could destroy any monster, any dragon. Together, you are unstoppable. 

It was your job to stop him. 

It was your choice to chase him. 

It was his desire that consumed you. 

Killing bad feels good.

It doesn't help to rationalize it. 

There's too much adrenaline running through a body that is losing far too much blood, but has never felt more alive. 

You hear the waves crash far, far beneath you as you cling to him, almost dancing together on the edge of the precipice. 

You don't think, you just hold him close as you guide your united bodies over the edge and into the blissful abyss. 

You're falling without fear.


End file.
